Business of Flying

I failed pre-algebra twice, and ace'd statistics at 3 universities.

I think thats because my high school algebra teacher left school before the bell to play tennis daily (F.U. Mr. Woodward), and all three of my stats teachers showed how practical their math was for making sound decisions.

Take this statistic for example: About 40% of our present V&R clients have a pilot's license. We didn't meet any of them them through aviation, although I doubt it hurt our chances when they learned we're avid aviators, owners and investors. But why would they care about that?

Maybe because professionals in aviation (in the sky and on the ground) experience the moves that the financial and commodity markets exhibit over quarters and years in just hours and days as global weather systems.

Weather forecasters, like economists, collect the historical and present and work to impute the future. When your sample period is short and data set definitively quantifiable (temperatures, ceilings, pressures and momentum), and it is collected by the minute automatically, the analysis is defacto richer than qualitative survey results and small samples that drive economic reporting and forecasting. I'd like to say that means the weather report is super accurate...but we'll just say it's constantly improving.

But again, what makes pilots both desirable and consistently successful in business? I'd say because you can't buy a pilots license, and those that choose difficult achievements to pursue when they're already successful are the same people that push and grow throughout their lives personally and professionally.

The sun is visible just ahead on the left of that picture from a few hours ago. And the winds were gustier closer to the gray frontal indication on the right. When it's a travel day, the conditions straight ahead are the ideal.

On a training morning, we chose to get a closer look to the right. And like the path less chosen, it made all the difference.